US-backed Kurdish forces have also been fighting IS in Syria but Turkey fiercely opposes any move by Kurds to expand into territory lost by the jihadists. No casualties or disruption to flights were reported.
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The deaths brought to 35 the number of people Turkey said had been been killed in Turkish air strikes in the area.
Any action against Kurdish forces in Syria puts Turkey at odds with its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally the United States, which backs the SDF and YPG, seeing them as the most reliable and effective ally in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.
But the Turkish army said it had killed 25 Kurdish “terrorists” from Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Syria’s YPG, state-run Anadolu news agency said. He said 50 Turkish tanks were taking part in the offensive.
The SOHR said the bombardment targeted an area south of the former ISIL stronghold of Jarablus, which Turkish-led forces captured on the first day of the incursion.
The SDF, which is spearheaded by the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia, has been lauded by both Russian Federation and the West as one of the most effective forces fighting Isis, and has received extensive USA support.
“These are areas that Turkey has asked the YPG to pull out of”. It is a broad grouping which includes the YPG.
Turkey said one of its soldiers was killed on Saturday when a rocket that it said came from a YPG-controlled area hit a tank. It is the first reported Turkish fatality in Syria.
The operation, labeled Euphrates Shield, is also aimed at pushing back USA -allied Kurdish forces.
Ankara wants to force the Kurds to withdraw to the east of Euphrates River, stopping short of establishing a corridor to link two Kurdish-led areas in north-western Syria.
Ankara’s military intervention in Syria has added another dimension to the country’s complex multi-front war, a devastating conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people and forced millions from their homes since it began in March 2011.
The operation started as an effort to push Isis out of the Syrian city of Jarabulus, but officials have been vocal about the twin aim to oust Kurdish militias the Government views as terrorists.
Gaziantep is the city where a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a wedding party last weekend, killing 55 people. “The Kurds are the most effective force in fighting terrorism, the U.S. needs us”.
Russia, which backs Assad, has endorsed the proposal.
After last week’s invasion of northern Syria and the capture of the city of Jarabulus away from ISIS, Turkish officials were quick to insist that their real target was primarily the Kurds.
It also follows the evacuation of Daraya, a Damascus suburb, as part of a deal struck between the government and rebels after a bombing campaign and siege.
Ahmet Genco, commander of the FSA’s Nurettin Zengi group, told Anadolu Agency on Sunday that Syrian opposition forces had taken control of Amarne village from the PYD.
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“The Turkish role here will be to protect the region”, said Faheem Issa, who commands the Sultan Murad brigade – a Syrian Turkmen unit.
